DIPPER, Cinclus, a genus of birds of the thrush family (merulida), distinguished from the other birds of that family by an almost straight, compressed, sharp-pointed bill, and still more by their manners and habits. They frequent clear pebbly streams and lakes, feeding chiefly on mollusks and on aquatic insects and their larvce, which they seek even under water, diving with great facility, and moving about for a short time at the bot tom of the water. They carry their rather short tail elevated after the manner of wrens, which they also resemble in their " frequent becks" or dipping of the head, accompanied with an upward jerking of the tail. One species is found in Britain, the COMMON D., or WATER OUSEL (a a quaticus), a bird rather smaller than any of the British thrushes, of a generally dark-brown color, with throat and upper part of the breast pure white. It is found throughout the whole of Europe and the n. of Asia, but chiefly in hilly or mountainous districts. It is not gregarious. The D. never fails to attract notice, as it
sits upon some stone in the midst of or beside the stream, its white breast rendering it conspicuous as it repeats the movement from which it derives its name. It builds a very curious nest of interwoven moss, domed and with the entrance in the side, usually in some mossy bank close by a stream, and often near or under a cascade. The asser tion which has been made, that the D. walks without apparent inwetilar effort at the bottom of the water, is incorrect; its feet are not well formed for walking, and it moves under water by means of its wings—which are short—not without much muscular effort. The statement also often made, that it eats the spawn of salmon and other fishes, iu the belief of which it is much persecuted in Scotland, has never been sufficiently authenti cated. Other species of D. are found in Asia and North America. In Scotland, the D. is called the water crow. •